Last week, federal immigration agents arrested an undocumented transgender woman, Ms. Gonzalez, at a courthouse in El Paso. She had just received a protective order there after reporting that she had been a victim of domestic violence. Her arrest was one of hundreds made during a five-day spate of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on vulnerable community members all over the nation.
In response, NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling said:
ICE’s actions are appalling—rounding people up at courthouses, locking up parents, youth who are here under DACA, domestic violence victims, and transgender people who are unsafe in detention and whose lives could be at risk if they were deported. It is especially egregious that they found out about her location by colluding with someone she was seeking protection from.
Ms. Gonzalez’s case is tragic. Equally tragic is that her situation is not unique. Nearly 7 in 10 undocumented respondents to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey had experienced intimate partner violence. Communities across the country must resist President Trump’s deportation force and do everything possible to protect immigrant community members, including transgender immigrants.
